Chasing King's Killer

Starred review from November 20, 2017
As he did in Chasing Lincoln’s Killer and “The President Has Been Shot!”, Swanson offers an absorbing chronicle of the lead-up to and aftermath of the assassination of an American leader. After a concise account of King’s upbringing in a close-knit, religious Atlanta family and a childhood lived under Jim Crow, Swanson tracks his speedy ascent to becoming the “beloved living, breathing symbol” of the civil rights movement. Photographs, extensive quotations from a variety of sources (press reports, King’s writings and speeches, court records), and other documentation (including a previously unpublished letter from J. Edgar Hoover that underscores the FBI’s harassment of King) provide an immediate look at his pivotal role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, lunch-counter sit-ins, and the 1963 March on Washington. Just as compelling is Swanson’s insight into the background of King’s enigmatic killer, escaped convict James Earl Ray. The details of Ray’s efforts to transform and disguise his appearance, the planning of the assassination, and his flight from authorities are riveting and disturbing. Ages 12–up. Agent: Richard Abate, 3 Arts Entertainment.